The invention is generally related to the display of television program information, and in particular, to scrolling the display of television program information, e.g., in a continuous manner or responsive to user input.
As the number of available sources of television programming increases, it becomes more and more difficult for television viewers to locate interesting television programs. In the earlier days of television, a television viewer was limited to watching television programs on only a few television channels, such as those of the local affiliates of national broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC. With such a limited number of programming sources, viewers were able to simply xe2x80x9csurfxe2x80x9d between channels to locate interesting programs.
Due to the advent of cable and satellite television services, however, the number of channels available to television viewers has risen dramatically, to the point where some viewers may have access to as many as several hundred channels. With so many available channels, however, surfing is often not a particularly efficient way to locate interesting television programs. Many users therefore rely on electronic program information to determine what television programs are available for viewing.
For example, many cable providers display non-interactive program listings on a preview channel, with the program listings sorted first by timeslot (e.g., by starting time), and then by channel number. The program listings are arranged in a list and displayed on a television screen. However, due to the limited real estate available on a television screen, only a portion of the list can be displayed at any given time. Accordingly, the list is typically scrolled through on the screen at a slow enough rate so that viewers can read the displayed program listings before the individual listings are scrolled off of the screen.
One problem with such broadcast program listings is that the time required to scroll through the program listings for all of the possible channels can be significant, and many viewers can become frustrated waiting for the list to scroll to channels that the viewers are particularly interested in. Furthermore, since all available channels are displayed in the listings, viewers are often required to view a large number of program listings for channels that they probably never watch. Also, given that the listings are typically generated by the cable provider and broadcast to all customers, individual viewers have no manner of customizing the listings to highlight their favorite channels.
Electronic program information is also used in interactive electronic program guides supported by the television receiving devices (e.g., set top boxes and satellite receivers) available from many cable and satellite providers. Rather than scrolling continuously through program listings, electronic program guides typically display a list of television programs, either in a one-dimensional array sorted by channel and/or timeslot, or in a two-dimensional array or grid where programs are arranged by channel in one dimension and by timeslot in the other dimension. A user-manipulated cursor is also displayed to permit a user to move from program to program and perform different activities, e.g., viewing a program or obtaining more detailed program information about a program. Moreover, viewers are often capable of storing lists of favorite channels, so that only the program information for the programs on those favorite channels are listed in the electronic program guide.
Like non-interactive electronic program listings, electronic program guides are typically not capable of displaying the program information for all of the available channels simultaneously. As such, a viewer is typically permitted to scroll through the program information interactively, with the display updated as necessary based upon the movement of the cursor.
Some television receiving devices also support on-screen overlays that display more detailed program information about a current program being watched by a viewer. Through the use of cursor control keys, a viewer may be permitted to scroll sequentially to different channels or timeslots to view program information for other television programs, and then perform operations such as selecting a program or viewing additional information about the program.
While interactive electronic program guides and overlays typically provide faster and more efficient access of program information than non-interactive electronic program listings, a viewer can still spend a significant amount of time scrolling through program information to locate interesting television programs. Especially when a viewer has not created a favorite channel list, the viewer may be required to scroll past the program information for numerous programs that the viewer would have absolutely no interest in watching.
Every viewer inherently will have different interests, as well as different likes and dislikes, and as such will typically favor certain types of programs over others. However, conventional manners of presenting program information to viewers have only limited capabilities for assisting viewers in accessing the program information that those viewers will find the most interesting. Therefore, a significant need continues to exist in the art for a manner of facilitating fast and efficient viewer access to interesting television program information.
The invention addresses these and other problems associated with the prior art by providing an apparatus, program product and method in which the scroll rate used to scroll through the program information for various television programs available to a television viewer is dynamically adjusted to provide a variable rate of scroll for program information presented to the television viewer. Among other possible implementations, such a configuration permits a scroll rate to be adjusted to emphasize certain program information relative to other program information, e.g., by slowing down the scroll rate to increase the visibility for important program information and speeding up the scroll rate to decrease the visibility of less important program information.
Dynamic scroll rate adjustment may be implemented, for example, by displaying program information for a first television program from a plurality of television programs on a display, scrolling the display to display program information for a second television program from the plurality of television programs, and dynamically adjusting a scroll rate at which the display is scrolled based upon a predetermined characteristic of the first television program.
Dynamic scroll rate adjustment may also be utilized in a number of situations in which program information is presented to a viewer. As one example, for a non-interactive electronic program listing that displays a continuously scrolling list of program information, dynamic adjustment of scroll rate may be used to vary the rate at which program information is scrolled across a television screen. As another example, for an interactive electronic program guide, dynamic adjustment of scroll rate may be used to vary the movement of a user-manipulated cursor and/or the incremental scrolling of the display that occurs as a user attempts to move a cursor outside of currently-displayed program listings. As still another example, for an electronic overlay, dynamic adjustment of scroll rate may be used to vary the rate at which program information for one television program is replaced with program information for another television program. Other situations suitable for the use of dynamic scroll rate adjustment will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure.
Dynamic scroll rate adjustment may also be based upon a number of different characteristics of the television programs associated with the displayed program information. For example, dynamic scroll rate adjustment may be based upon the frequency of access of different television programs, determined, e.g., based upon the monitored viewing habits of a television viewer or user. In such an implementation, the scroll rate may be decreased as a user views program information for a frequently watched program, and increased as a user views program information for programs that are rarely if ever watched. Dynamic scroll rate adjustment may also be based upon sponsorship of certain television programs, e.g., to permit a program provider to pay for a slower scroll rate, and thus, greater visibility to viewers. Other characteristics will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure.